Pellet gun mistaken for rifle causes stir in Fairfield

Lyle Krannichfeld, 42, is detained and cited after witnesses reported a man with a rifle. Krannichfeld was found with a pellet gun and cited for firing it inside city limits, following a large police response that involved blocking traffic.

A Fairfield man's "poor judgment" Monday resulted in road closure, a call out for the Fairfield Police Department's BearCat and, once the dust settled, a citation after a neighbor mistook his pellet gun for a rifle.

Lyle Krannichfeld, 42, was detained, cited and released after allegedly violating a city ordinance by shooting cans with his pellet gun in a vacant field near Alaska Avenue and Cunningham Drive, said Fairfield police Sgt. Dave Reeves.

Officers responded to the field around 1:45 p.m. after a citizen called reporting seeing a man with what they believed to be a rifle with a scope in the neighborhood just south of Air Base Parkway, Reeves said.

Traffic was stopped by police on Alaska Avenue in both directions, and the department's BearCat was requested. Once officers were in place and they finally contacted Krannichfeld, who Reeves said "immediately complied with commands." Officers discovered that the "rifle" was actually a pump-action pellet gun -- which Reeves noted "can do some damage."

Krannichfeld told officers he was using it to shoot cans in a vacant lot.

Before moving in to confront Krannichfeld, officers standing at a distance of 200 yards could easily hear the shots, Reeves added.

Krannichfeld was handcuffed and briefly detained by police for the violation before being release.